I am not a big game person myself.  I am like everyone else who lets their brain go numb while watching something entertaining, especially after trying some games that weren’t competitive enough.  Board games were fun for an “unsophisticated generation,” like when I grew up.  Now it seems we have a very sophisticated society, and we need to be attentive to that.  Video games fit the bill, right?  Maybe, maybe not.

Video games can be very addictive.  There is data that shows that many people who start gaming when they were young continue into their 20s and 30s.  They spend endless hours playing really competitive games that lead to nothing.  Of course, there are video games that you can play against each other in the living room, but that interactive playing may or may not happen, even though that is the intention.  There are other really some good interactive board games that will engage your kids’ attention, like Mad Gab, Catch Phrase, Apples to Apples, Imagine If, Clue, Scattergories, Monopoly.  And there are lots of great card games that are fun and force you to think and engage with your kids: UNO, Phase 10, Pit, Spoons, Hearts, Spit, Hit the Deck, Skip Bo, to name several.

You can create some great memories while playing interactive games or reading funny books aloud.  We used to read at the dinner table.  I remember laughing about a story we were reading and discussing the issues the story brought up.

Try to stay away from having every family night be about watching a video.  That is the easy way out.  There are always so many movies to pick from, and we ourselves have had to guard against only watching videos on family night.  Think about an indulgent time spent absorbing Hollywood’s values versus laughing hysterically together throughout a competitive game.  Which would you choose?

Sometimes you all just need to relax and let your hair down.  But if you get in the habit of doing that, and not engaging your kids, you will end up with 16-,17-, and 18-year-old couch potato slugs absorbed by media because all their family time was spent silently in front of a viewing screen.